Event Season Has Begun

As with previous years, this year is jammed pack with events. There have been a few minor changes this year and hopefully I will keep doing some of them into the upcoming years.



There are really two event seasons for me - March to June and end of August/first part of September through November.

In March, I participated in the SC Association of School Librarians conference which was a good event and I have a feeling that next year will be even better. In May, I participated in the SC Book Festival which was pretty good other than having too many folks in the booth but we have parted ways and it's time to move on to other things. The homeschool conference in June wasn't held this year since USC-Sumter was remodeling the building where the event is usually held so I had no events over the summer to speak of. I had previously done a homeschool event about the middle of August in Charlotte - the Love 2 Learn conference - but didn't get to do that one this year since I was busy with work and have been taking a friend of mine to her doctor's appointments and money was tight.

The first scheduled event this season (the August to November time) is the Sunday in the Park in Mint Hill. This is held the 3rd or 4th Sunday of August every year and is one of the least costly events for me, other than travel time (gas is going back up again - but I have had success covering gas at least at this event). Since this is a day event, I don't have to pay for a hotel as the event is only about 2 or so hours away from home. So, Sunday, August 26, I will be heading to Mint Hill, NC, for the event and I hope my son will go with me to help set up the tent and just man the tables. He said he would go but he's been sleeping a lot during the day and getting up late at night to do whatever so I'm hoping tomorrow he gets on a better sleeping pattern and goes to bed and sleeps during the night so he can get up early Sunday to go with me.

Right after the Sunday in the Park event is Decatur Book Festival in Decatur, Georgia. The last time I did this event was in 2008 and that was when State of Wilderness was first released. Since then, I have had five more state books published and Finally Home plus a few short stories are ebook published. So in 4 years, I think that is pretty good.

Between the beginning of September and beginning of October, I don't have anything planned since the Geofest will be at the SC Council for Social Studies conference the end of September and I can't afford an exhibitor booth for that event ($450 is a bit steep for me right now).

October is a very busy month for me as I have the Georgia Librarian Associations (it's called Georgia COMO - combined SELA (Southeastern Librarian Association), GMSA (Georgia Media Specialists Association) and GLA (Georgia Librarian Association)) conference the 3rd through the 5th. I lucked out on this one as I was fretting how I would come up with the exhibitor booth cost and put the dilemma to the director and he came up with a solution for me - I get to man the SELA booth and display my books to sell at no cost to me. I also have been accepted to do a presentation Friday morning and get to participate in the Author Reception Thursday evening - so my only costs will be hotel and gas and food - and I've booked a suite so I can take inexpensive food to have for my meals (breakfast is at the hotel and I may even purchase Lunch to Go, depending on cost for my evening meals). Everything works out as it should and I think this will be an excellent group to get in with.

I'll return Friday evening and then Saturday, the 6th and the following Saturday, the 13th, I hope to be in a "ghost hunting" course - and get to participate in the field trip to do some ghost hunting.

The weekend of the 19th-20th of October is the Sugarfoot festival and that is here in town, so my expense is table ($25 and already paid) and my time to set up and be out there.

The next one I hope to participate in will be the last weekend of October which is the Georgia Council for Social Studies but again - everything will depend on funding in September and if I can swing the exhibitor's booth cost.

I won't be able to do the SCISA teacher's conference this year since it is in Charleston and the overall cost for me to take that trip, stay overnight in a hotel for a half day conference wouldn't be worth it. I hope next year they will move it to the upstate area - either Anderson or Greenville would be perfect for me.

I also won't be able to do the Savannah Children's Book Festival this year as they have moved it to the same weekend as the YALLFest and the cost would be more than it would be worth it.

I'm going to talk with Sybil about splitting a table at YALLFest and seeing if she can get me a hotel room on the cheap that weekend since she lives in Charleston. I will try it this year and go from there.

I think that pretty much wraps up the Fall Event Season for me. Don't forget for every book purchase you will receive 5 chances for the red, white, and blue afghan and extra chances are only $1 each. For every 25 chances purchased, you get 5 extra chances (so you pay $25, you get 30 chances; you pay $50, you get 60 chances; you pay $75, you get 90 chances; you pay $100, you get 120 chances) - The drawing will still be held the 1st of December with the afghan being mailed out about the 7th of December. See you all in the postings. Reports after the two upcoming events - Ma America

Art in the Park (or Sunday in the Park) Mint Hill and Hurricane Irene

As of noon Friday, it looks like we are still going to Mint Hill Sunday for Art in the Park (I believe in the past it may have been called Sunday in the Park). Ms. Faye Tollison, author of To Tell The Truth will be joining under the tent Sunday for this event. We have been keeping an eye on Hurricane Irene and hopefully wherever it lands tonight or tomorrow all will be safe and we will still be heading to Mint Hill to do this fun event. Shelley Stout, author of Radium Halos, may join us again this year but she may have another commitment. We shall see Sunday. Hope you all will join us for Art in the Park in Mint Hill, North Carolina, this coming Sunday for the next adventure.

Mint Hill Pictures

And the few pictures I took last weekend at the Mint Hill event:

My table set up -








Shelley's table -







Benjamin reading his book and Shelley at the table -



Shelley did very well and I did okay. There was a crowd but not as many homeschoolers or kids as I would have thought but it was a good day overall. No events scheduled for Labor Day Weekend but then I'm hitting the road full force for September and then a couple of weeks break and four events basically back to back, so keep an eye for more pictures of future events - see you in the postings - Mrs. E :)

Mint Hill success/license plate game

Mint Hill Sunday in the Park was very successful this year (not as much as I would have liked to seen for my books in the way of homeschoolers, but still succesful). I took Benjamin with me to help out; he stayed to himself most of the day - did set up the canopy and went to get some pizza and ice cream later in the day for us and helped Shelley take her stuff to her car.

Shelley was selling like a madman - she sold 7 copies of Radium Halos and 2 copies of "The Moose Next Door" (an interative write and illustrate your own essay story book for grades 2 through 4).

I sold my special deal (the first three books with study guides), a copy of "Wilderness" and a copy of "Train of Clues".

The booths on either side of us housed a young girl who is homeschooled selling "dragon eggs" and hair ribbons (flowered and ribbons hanging down type of things) and they were fun to talk to. Ms. Gabrielle, the 4-year-old sister to the girl selling, opened up to me as we were getting ready to leave or close to that time; she just pulled her little Disney Princesses chair next to me and gave me a life story. She was so cute. The young fellow next to me on the other side was doing macrame type parachute cord bands (wrist and keyrings) to benefit the military fallen heroes funds or something like that - he was an ex-marine. He also told us about a festival in Banner Elk, which is in October - the Woolly Worm Festival. It is held at one of the schools in Banner Elk and I've made contact and am hoping to add this to my events this year. So be on the lookout for more information on this if I get in and can possibly do a school visit the Friday before the event - that would be awesome.

I've already added another festival to the October line-up - so check out my website for the calendar of events. This one is very local - right in the town where I live so no major travel time and no staying in a hotel or with friends or anything like that; just need Benjamin to help set the canopy up and take it down but that should be an easy setup.

After getting the car packed up and heading out, Benjamin started checking out license plates on vehicles as they passed us. We saw a good many of the different states - 11 in total, not including South Carolina and North Carolina (obviously being in those two states, those two tags were expected to be seen). One trucker we passed actually had an Ontario plate - so we actually saw international plates - lol.

The states we saw included Ohio, Virginia (heading south for whatever reason, must be going back to school somewhere down this way), Mississippi, Indiana, Kentucky, Florida, New Jersey (again, heading in the wrong direction - since Jersey is north of us), Tennessee and Georgia (this is pretty much expected coming from North Carolina to South Carolina on I-85, which is a direct route to Atlanta. We saw two cars together with New York plates and one of them actually said "DR BOOK" - now how cool a plate is that. I'm thinking of doing a vanity plate for me but I don't think anyone would really get it (I want it to look something like this but may be too many letters - JGDS ATHR). And the winning plate from the furthest place is Washington state. He really is a long way from home so hoping his trip is successful wherever he was heading. It was fun to see several different states from many different regions of the country.

Remember on any trip you take - play a game and have fun. Mrs. E :)

Mint Hill bound

Sunday in the Park (was called Art in the Park previously) is upon us again. I will be heading to Mint Hill, NC, which is about 20 or 30 minutes or so on the other side of Charlotte. Last year was a good time and the weather was perfect, hot at times but plenty of breezes to help keep the heat and humidity at bay. I'm hoping this year with more to offer that I do well. I can only hope. Benjamin is going with me to help me out, so this will be a new exciting adventure for me since my son hasn't participated in any of my events before. I think the mention of paying him to help out was the reason he decideed to go. I get to spend the day with my baby (not so much a baby any more - lol as he is at least 6 feet tall and weighs in at 160 or so pounds). I'm looking forward to Sunday in the Park - see you all in the postings - Mrs. E :) & the JGDS

Mint Hill Art (or Sunday Afternoon) in the Park

Through an accidental finding from another author's website, I found this little outdoor activity. I will be participating this coming Sunday with a table set up with activities for the kids and chances to win puzzles and flag pens. If you are in the Charlotte, NC, area or even close to Mint Hill, stop by between 1 and 6 p.m. and visit with the many artists who will be there. I will hopefully be sharing a tent space with Joyce and Jim Lavene. Hope to see you all there - E :)